Kevin Ollie to OKC?
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I heard news on SC that Kevin Ollie may leave UCONN to be the head coach of OKC, I then went to 247 sports and noticed their top recruit Jalen Adams a 4 star PG had KU high on his list after UCONN per the Crystal ball. I think we are pretty set w Mason and Graham but I did find this interesting. If Ollie leaves would Adams be able to transfer?
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I believe as long as he didn’t take any benefits from signing his grant in aid he can freely leave (without having to sit a year) unless he signed a LOI and UCONN refuses to let him out of it. On situations like this, universities tend to let players out because it really crashes their reputation plus in the past several players hired attorneys to help get them out of it. This is why many players don’t like to sign LOIs.
Jalen played at Brewster Academy… breeding grounds for Kansas.
UCONN also landed Shonn Miller yesterday… a 6’7" forward who was on my radar screen, especially if we get none of the OADs. This is the kid that couldn’t extend to a fifth year in the Ivy League at Cornell without completely withdrawing from school first.
One of the best players in the Ivy League last season, Miller averaged 16.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 31.3 minutes of action per game.
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I would seriously doubt that Ollie would get a HC job in the NBA. His name was popular after UConn won the title but last season they did not even make it to the tournament and his original shine has seriously faded. Th only reason he is being considered is because his friendship with Durant (and Westbrooke) with whom he played and I personally don’t think Durant would stay in OKC just because of him.
Every year there is talk about replacing Scott Brooks at OKC and it never leads to anything. He had a super tough season with all the injuries and I am not sure he had all of his starting players together for more than a handful of games and it took a tie breaker to keep OKC off the payoffs; he is well liked and respected by fans in OKC and the stories come from sources other than those in the team.
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Ollie is very highly regarded in NBA circles as a coach. I would not be surprised if he landed an NBA job within the next few years.
Scott Brooks is a coach that is not very well thought of around the NBA, so it is no surprise that his name is being circulated as a possible firing candidate. However, OKC knows that if they wait until next season starts to get rid of Brooks, they won’t have a chance to get many of the better candidates, so they would basically be punting on next season, too.
If Ollie is leaving, he announces within the next two weeks.
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I have to respectfully disagree with you. Ollie is well respected in the NBA as a player because of his work ethic not necessarily because of his ability since he was mostly a role player that averaged 3.8 ppg and 15 mpg over his career. However, his only coaching experience is 2 years as an assistant under Calhoun and 3 as head coach with 1 (very successful) trip to the NCAA with Calhoun’s players) and the next year (last season) he made it only to the 1st round of the NIT. Not really an impressive coaching background. Bruce Weber came within a whisker of winning the NCAA with Self’s players and had a much better record than Ollie and he is not even sniffing the NBA anytime soon; he might even be out of a job at KSU soon. Remember Mike Davis? He made it to the NCAA Title game in his second seasons as HC at Indiana (with Bob Knight’s players) and after that it was all downhill with UAB next and now coaching at Texas Southern of the Southwestern Athletic Conference… a long ways from the bright lights of Indiana and the Big 10.
Scott Brooks has finished 5th, 4th, 1st, 1st,1st, 1st and 2nd in the North West division which for a super-small market team with a lot less resources than a big market team is really, really good. He is already third in the franchise history in wins behind only legends Lenny Wilkens and George Karl. I have a couple of friend in OKC that are big fans and what I hear from them is that he is well liked and respected by fans. Last season was a disaster with injuries and they went through 21 players…if Durant had played 30 games instead of 27, they are most likely in the playoffs. When you look at all coached in the NBA history with 400 or more games, Scott Brooks is #8 all time in winning %…this pretty darn good. The only other coaches with a better winning % are:
- Phil Jackson 0.704
- Billy Cunningham 0.698
- Gregg Popovich .685
- K. C. Jones .674
- Red Auerbach -.662
- Pat Riley 0.636
- Erik Spoelstra 0.629
- Scott Brooks 0.620
Anyway, that is my story and I am sticking to it
